Military construction on Kurils has nothing to do with peace treaty with Japan — diplomat

VLADIVOSTOK, September 3. /TASS/. The issue of Russia’s military construction on the Kuril Islands has nothing to do with the conclusion of a peace treaty with Japan, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov told the media on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

"I have no idea of our military construction plans, but they have nothing to do with the talks being conducted over the issue of a peace treaty [with Japan]. Military construction issues are not discussed there," he said.

Earlier, the news agency Kyodo said that Russia allegedly had plans for deploying coastal missile systems Bastion on the islands of Paramushir and Matua.

Igor Morgulov said on Tuesday he would hold a round of consultations on security issues next week in Tokyo and discuss Russia’s military construction on the Kuril Islands.

"Next week in Tokyo I will hold another round of consultations on security, where we will be able to discuss issues linked to Russia’s security concerns, which are related to military construction in Japan and the activity of the Japanese-US military alliance. The Japanese colleagues will ask us questions related to their concerns over our military construction," the high-ranking diplomat told reporters, answering a question on Russia’s deployment of Bastion missile systems to the Kuril Islands.

According to the diplomat, there are no particular plans on holding another round of Russian-Japanese strategic dialogue. "We continue coordinating the dates," Morgulov said.